This is the seventh installment in a series of previews of breweries pouring at the 2013 Great American Beer Festival, which opens tonight. We’ve invited beer writers from across the country to recommend breweries from their respective regions. Next up is Colorado native (and current resident) Emily Hutto, who is on a mission to visit every brewery in the state. Her new book, Colorado’s Top Brewers, documents beer and food pairings and is now available at Tattered Cover and Amazon. During the festival, you can find Emily hanging around the Colorado Brewers Guild booth. On to Emily’s picks for GABF 2013 …

Lost Highway Brewing
If anyone is going to hit the nail on the head when it comes to authentic Belgian-style beers, it’s undoubtedly going to be James and Tina Pachorek and crew at the brand new new Lost Highway Brewing Company next to their pub The Cheeky Monk. James was knighted by the Belgian Brewers Guild in recognition of his advocacy for the Belgian beer community in 2011, and his wife Tina is excited to bring a community hub back to Colfax street. Lost Highway is named after its home on Colfax Avenue, the longest continuous highway in America.

Hogshead Brewery
Arguably Colorado’s best cask ale, Hogshead Brewery serves impeccable English-style cask ale. Their beers, like the shite-talkin’ Chin Wag ESB and the extra dry Boys Bitter, a summer ale that’s brewed year round, quickly became Denver staples when the brewery opened in the Highland neighborhood last year.

Black Bottle Brewery
This brewery gets a lot of attention for its ridiculous YouTube videos and witty, self-deprecating beer names, but not enough recognition for its exceptional beers, especially its rare sour beers. When it comes to saisons and IPAs, Black Bottle’s ever-changing batches strike a balance of malt and hop-forwardness, and often defy style guidelines. On purpose.

Epic Brewing
The Salt Lake City-based Epic Brewing has permanently set up shop in Denver. Coloradoans rejoice. No one can accuse this brewery of boring beers. Their huge lineup includes surprising flavors like the Utah Utah Sage Saison and the Smoked & Oaked Belgian-Style Ale. Big props to Epic for making connections in the RiNo neighborhood before they moved in— one of its first locally brewed beers was the RiNo Pale Ale with a label design that featured artwork from a local graffiti artist, and its Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout is brewed with coffee beans from local Novo Coffee Roasters.

West Flanders
This newer Boulder brewery is the brainchild of Brian Lutz, whose many years of experience in the beer industry shows with some exceptional Belgian-style beers like the Daisy Cutter and the Trippel Lutz.

Wit’s End Brewing Company
It’s amazing what one little barrel can do with an artful brewer behind it. Scott Witsoe is making West Coast-inspired hop-forward IPA, Belgian-style beer with rock candy sugar, and rye porter that wows, among many other small batches at his nanobrewery on West 2nd Avenue.

Funkwerks
Last year’s Small Brewery of The Year is still slinging some of the country’s best saison, and other inventive Belgian styles like the Pilsner malted, tart and citrusy Deceit and another version of the same beer aged in rum barrels.

Santa Fe Brewing
This brewery is hitting Colorado liquor store shelves hard with its approachable beers in cans like the Freestyle Pilsner and the Happy Camper I.P.A, perfect for packing into a hiking bag. The brewery in New Mexico taps strange and unusual beers every weekend— here’s hoping they bring some of those to Denver this weekend.

Madison River Brewing Company
This underrated brewery in Belgrade, Montana doesn’t distribute in Colorado, and it’s a shame. Get the Black Ghost Oatmeal Stout and the Salmon Fly Honey Rye before they’re gone.

Must-hit destination booths:

Jolly Pumpkin, for sour beer that always surprises and never disappoints.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!